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okletmereviewit (4 KP) rated Boo! A Madea Halloween (2016) in Movies
May 11, 2018
good comedy movie for halloween
Contains spoilers, click to show
Hellur!!! OK so if you are looking for a good comedy movie for halloween (I know not typically a genre that you look for this time of year) then look no further. If you are a Tyler Perry fan or a fan of Madea you are going to be pleasantly surprised that this movie isn't a flop like (in my humble opinion) A Madea Christmas. Now since the early days I have loved the Madea character and the good wholesome values that Mr. Perry brings to the big screen. Sometimes they can "reach" and other times its just good fun.
In this movie, we find a grown 17yr old Tiffany (played by Diamond White) Brian's Daughter who we first met in Diary of a Mad Black Woman as a little girl (played by Tiffany Evens) and some girlfriends walking home from school, where they come across a Frat House with overly douchey College guys who are cat calling the young high school girls as they walk past their house.
They all try to talk to them and of course they only have one thing on their mind while talking to the girls. They invite them to a Halloween bash that they hold every year and about that time a very angry Brian pulls up and has a verbal confrontation with these guys. Embarrassed by the incident Tiffany is angry and talks back to Brian in front of her girlfriends and the Frat boys. Later we find Tiffany and her friend Aday (played by Liz Koshy) scheming in Tiffany's room about how they are going to sneak out after Brian leaves for work for the weekend.
Brian after finding out that his daughter is going to be meeting up with the boys later, calls Madea to come by and stay with the girls so that she can keep them in line. Well Madea, Joe, Aunt Bam, and Hattie, all show up to the house, where they witness the disrespectful nature in which Tiffany speaks to Brian and how she "throws shade" at the "old people" who are there to thwart her plans to go to the college frat party. Antics ensue as Tiffany decides to play a prank on Madea, Joe, Bam, and Hattie, and tell them a spooky story about how their house is haunted and that the only way to be safe is to go to bed before 10pm. After this the girls sneak out of the house to attend the party. Madea, goes to check up on the girls after some time has passed, and discovers that they are not in bed. Madea rallies up the troop (Bam and Hattie) and heads down to the frat party. When they pull up Madea is accosted by some frat boys on the front steps and after quickly putting them in place, she begins to search the party for Tiffany and Aday. When their friends find out that Tiffany's aunt is looking for her, they are quickly taken outside and Madea is hoisted up by a bunch of angry and drunk party goers and is thrown out the door.
"Mad as hell" Madea returns to Brian's house and calls the cops on the party and has it shut down. The frat boys take it on themselves to get back at Madea. Meanwhile, Tiffany comes downstairs and confronts Madea about what was going on acting like she had been upstairs sleeping in her dad's room the whole time. The frat boys begin messing with Madea, Joe, Bam, and Hattie, scaring them. At which point a couple of the guys, dress up like clowns and stalk Madea, Bam, and Hattie through out the house, eventually causing them to get in Madea's car and flee.
As they head down a dark road Madea's car breaks down. Madea and Hattie get out to try and see what is wrong with the car. About that time shadowy figures begin to appear in the woods surrounding them, and begin chasing them. Madea kicks it into high gear and leaves everyone in the dust and runs into the church where Aday's father the Reverend (Javon Johnson) is the preacher at, asking to be saved from the "demons and clowns and monkeys" and stuff that were chasing her. Aday comes out and tells Madea and the others that it was all just a prank that the frat boys were pulling and that none of it was real. Madea then decides to have some "hullerween" fun of her own by pulling a fast one on the boys. The film ends with a positive message about love, trust, and respect, and Madea running from "the po po".
You are in for a fun time and a good belly laugh. I hope you all take time to get out to see this great movie that is sure to become a family holiday classic.
In this movie, we find a grown 17yr old Tiffany (played by Diamond White) Brian's Daughter who we first met in Diary of a Mad Black Woman as a little girl (played by Tiffany Evens) and some girlfriends walking home from school, where they come across a Frat House with overly douchey College guys who are cat calling the young high school girls as they walk past their house.
They all try to talk to them and of course they only have one thing on their mind while talking to the girls. They invite them to a Halloween bash that they hold every year and about that time a very angry Brian pulls up and has a verbal confrontation with these guys. Embarrassed by the incident Tiffany is angry and talks back to Brian in front of her girlfriends and the Frat boys. Later we find Tiffany and her friend Aday (played by Liz Koshy) scheming in Tiffany's room about how they are going to sneak out after Brian leaves for work for the weekend.
Brian after finding out that his daughter is going to be meeting up with the boys later, calls Madea to come by and stay with the girls so that she can keep them in line. Well Madea, Joe, Aunt Bam, and Hattie, all show up to the house, where they witness the disrespectful nature in which Tiffany speaks to Brian and how she "throws shade" at the "old people" who are there to thwart her plans to go to the college frat party. Antics ensue as Tiffany decides to play a prank on Madea, Joe, Bam, and Hattie, and tell them a spooky story about how their house is haunted and that the only way to be safe is to go to bed before 10pm. After this the girls sneak out of the house to attend the party. Madea, goes to check up on the girls after some time has passed, and discovers that they are not in bed. Madea rallies up the troop (Bam and Hattie) and heads down to the frat party. When they pull up Madea is accosted by some frat boys on the front steps and after quickly putting them in place, she begins to search the party for Tiffany and Aday. When their friends find out that Tiffany's aunt is looking for her, they are quickly taken outside and Madea is hoisted up by a bunch of angry and drunk party goers and is thrown out the door.
"Mad as hell" Madea returns to Brian's house and calls the cops on the party and has it shut down. The frat boys take it on themselves to get back at Madea. Meanwhile, Tiffany comes downstairs and confronts Madea about what was going on acting like she had been upstairs sleeping in her dad's room the whole time. The frat boys begin messing with Madea, Joe, Bam, and Hattie, scaring them. At which point a couple of the guys, dress up like clowns and stalk Madea, Bam, and Hattie through out the house, eventually causing them to get in Madea's car and flee.
As they head down a dark road Madea's car breaks down. Madea and Hattie get out to try and see what is wrong with the car. About that time shadowy figures begin to appear in the woods surrounding them, and begin chasing them. Madea kicks it into high gear and leaves everyone in the dust and runs into the church where Aday's father the Reverend (Javon Johnson) is the preacher at, asking to be saved from the "demons and clowns and monkeys" and stuff that were chasing her. Aday comes out and tells Madea and the others that it was all just a prank that the frat boys were pulling and that none of it was real. Madea then decides to have some "hullerween" fun of her own by pulling a fast one on the boys. The film ends with a positive message about love, trust, and respect, and Madea running from "the po po".
You are in for a fun time and a good belly laugh. I hope you all take time to get out to see this great movie that is sure to become a family holiday classic.
Hadley (567 KP) rated The Collector in Books
May 4, 2019
Contains spoilers, click to show
Whenever you move to a small town, there is always a hidden secret. When one of those secrets is children going missing, it makes for a great horror story. But 'the Collector' makes for an okay one,with most of its twist and turns being highly predictable.
Josie, the main character of 'the Collector,' has just been uprooted from Chicago with her younger sister, Anna, after their single mother just lost her job. They move in with their ailing grandmother in a small town far away, where she warns the girls to never enter the woods that surround her house. Very early in the book (literally within the first ten pages), Josie and Anna hear a voice coming from the forbidden woods, calling out their names. This isn't the best horror book I've ever read, but it has its quirks.
The reader gets to follow Josie through the story, from her time at a new school to nightmare fueled dreams. She watches her mother take care of her grandmother, who has Alzheimer's, but the grandmother constantly speaks of someone named Beryl, and how this woman knows and wants Josie and Anna. Fortunately, Josie meets a girl at her new school named Vanessa, who becomes a quick friend. Josie speaks about the woods around her grandmother's house, and how she and her sister weren't allowed to enter them, but Vanessa believes there's nothing to worry about: " 'There's nothing to be scared of in the woods,' she said. Her voice sounded different. Flat. Like she was reciting a line from a story she'd read, but didn't believe. 'It's just trees and animals.' "
Josie and Anna soon go over to Vanessa's house, where she lives with her aunt. Little did they know that the house was the one in the forbidden woods that their grandmother warned them about. Josie ignores the rule and enters the home; inside, they are met with a hoarding collection of porcelain dolls, lining the walls and the floors of the entire house. Although Josie has had dreams about this house before even meeting Vanessa, including a life-size doll that answered the door(which she later states looked just like Vanessa), she didn't put the easily accessible puzzle pieces together.
Ignoring the obvious, Josie invites Vanessa over for a sleep-over, where we witness Josie's grandmother instantly recognizing her friend. Vanessa quickly leaves, taking off into the woods towards her home without giving an excuse or getting her overnight bag. When Josie asks her grandmother how she knew Vanessa, her grandmother replies: " 'Beryl is coming!'... 'You've brought her in here. I can't protect you. Not anymore.' "
Josie becomes angry and decides to confront her friend, Vanessa, and find out why she left the way that she did. When she reaches Vanessa's house in the woods, she can hear her crying,but there's another voice - a voice from Josie's dreams of none other than Beryl! Josie overhears Beryl demanding that Vanessa bring her another child for her collection.
Anyone who ever enjoyed R.L. Stine's 'Goosebumps' or 'Fear Street' series will enjoy this book. The story follows the basics of all young adult horror books: one pre-teen/teen experiences something supernatural, and no one believes them, so they are left to fend off the threat by themselves. But this one leaves out the teen drama of a blossoming romance with a boy-crazy girl, instead focusing on an older sister's love for her sibling. "I felt I should apologize to her before dinner. I should try and show her that I was sorry by offering to bring her food or something. I had to protect her, and that meant she had to trust me again."
One aspect that was needed was character development - there is such a lack of backstory that the reader can't bring themselves to care about any of the characters. Alexander keeps the story going with no lulls of teen life, but very little human interaction. Josie spends a lot of time with her younger sister, Anna, but the interactions are quick and seem unimportant.
'The Collector' is good for a quick read with a few scares here and there. I would recommend this book for pre-teens that are interested in horror genre books, but not wanting to deal with the nightmares that horror books for an older generation might bring. Although the ending of the book seemed rush, with a quick death of our villain by the hands of Josie, we are left with an opening for a possible sequel: "Slowly, I opened my eyes, tried to make my vision adjuts. I couldn't believe what I saw. There was a doll on my nightstand. A doll that looked an awful lot like Beryl. " It ends like most horror movies end, but was it good enough for a sequel? I don't think so.
Josie, the main character of 'the Collector,' has just been uprooted from Chicago with her younger sister, Anna, after their single mother just lost her job. They move in with their ailing grandmother in a small town far away, where she warns the girls to never enter the woods that surround her house. Very early in the book (literally within the first ten pages), Josie and Anna hear a voice coming from the forbidden woods, calling out their names. This isn't the best horror book I've ever read, but it has its quirks.
The reader gets to follow Josie through the story, from her time at a new school to nightmare fueled dreams. She watches her mother take care of her grandmother, who has Alzheimer's, but the grandmother constantly speaks of someone named Beryl, and how this woman knows and wants Josie and Anna. Fortunately, Josie meets a girl at her new school named Vanessa, who becomes a quick friend. Josie speaks about the woods around her grandmother's house, and how she and her sister weren't allowed to enter them, but Vanessa believes there's nothing to worry about: " 'There's nothing to be scared of in the woods,' she said. Her voice sounded different. Flat. Like she was reciting a line from a story she'd read, but didn't believe. 'It's just trees and animals.' "
Josie and Anna soon go over to Vanessa's house, where she lives with her aunt. Little did they know that the house was the one in the forbidden woods that their grandmother warned them about. Josie ignores the rule and enters the home; inside, they are met with a hoarding collection of porcelain dolls, lining the walls and the floors of the entire house. Although Josie has had dreams about this house before even meeting Vanessa, including a life-size doll that answered the door(which she later states looked just like Vanessa), she didn't put the easily accessible puzzle pieces together.
Ignoring the obvious, Josie invites Vanessa over for a sleep-over, where we witness Josie's grandmother instantly recognizing her friend. Vanessa quickly leaves, taking off into the woods towards her home without giving an excuse or getting her overnight bag. When Josie asks her grandmother how she knew Vanessa, her grandmother replies: " 'Beryl is coming!'... 'You've brought her in here. I can't protect you. Not anymore.' "
Josie becomes angry and decides to confront her friend, Vanessa, and find out why she left the way that she did. When she reaches Vanessa's house in the woods, she can hear her crying,but there's another voice - a voice from Josie's dreams of none other than Beryl! Josie overhears Beryl demanding that Vanessa bring her another child for her collection.
Anyone who ever enjoyed R.L. Stine's 'Goosebumps' or 'Fear Street' series will enjoy this book. The story follows the basics of all young adult horror books: one pre-teen/teen experiences something supernatural, and no one believes them, so they are left to fend off the threat by themselves. But this one leaves out the teen drama of a blossoming romance with a boy-crazy girl, instead focusing on an older sister's love for her sibling. "I felt I should apologize to her before dinner. I should try and show her that I was sorry by offering to bring her food or something. I had to protect her, and that meant she had to trust me again."
One aspect that was needed was character development - there is such a lack of backstory that the reader can't bring themselves to care about any of the characters. Alexander keeps the story going with no lulls of teen life, but very little human interaction. Josie spends a lot of time with her younger sister, Anna, but the interactions are quick and seem unimportant.
'The Collector' is good for a quick read with a few scares here and there. I would recommend this book for pre-teens that are interested in horror genre books, but not wanting to deal with the nightmares that horror books for an older generation might bring. Although the ending of the book seemed rush, with a quick death of our villain by the hands of Josie, we are left with an opening for a possible sequel: "Slowly, I opened my eyes, tried to make my vision adjuts. I couldn't believe what I saw. There was a doll on my nightstand. A doll that looked an awful lot like Beryl. " It ends like most horror movies end, but was it good enough for a sequel? I don't think so.
Kara Skinner (332 KP) rated Witches Gone Wicked in Books
Jun 11, 2019
All Clarissa wants to do is become a powerful witch, learn about her mother, and find her high school sweetheart, Derrick.
But it’s not that simple when she’s all but banned from using her volatile magic, her mother was apparently an evil dictator, and her high school sweetheart was swept away in a tornado. Oh, and she caused the tornado.
But, now that she’s a teacher at Womby’s School for Wayward Witches, she might have a chance to actually become part of the Witchkin community and achieve her goals.
Despite everyone despising her because of her mother, she’s making new friends like Josie, a video-gaming witch who loves all life, and Khaba, a Djinn with a kilt fetish. She’s also getting attention from the very sexy Julien Thistledown.
If only that jerk Felix Thatch would stop patronizing her and let her learn about her mother.
Witches Gone Wicked is essentially Harry Potter fanfiction,which had me skeptical at first, but it was really entertaining at the same time.
Womby’s is the Title I version of Hogwarts. It’s for witchkin too poor to afford other schools as well as ones who were kicked out of other schools. Clarissa, being an art teacher, feels the strain of this with an annual budget of $20. The previous art teacher apparently had the students make mud pie art because of lack of supplies. I really liked the idea of a Title I Hogwarts and found the entire school and the staff really interesting.
Josie and Khaba are really funny and entertaining. Khaba is a bit of a stereotype, but I didn’t mind it that much. Josie was fantastic. Gotta love someone who loves all life and has the guts to treat spiders like puppies.
My favorite character is perhaps Felix Thatch. He’s very sexy and funny and I love almost every scene including him. He’s definitely not a people person by any stretch, but he has a lot of integrity as a teacher and a person that Clarissa just refuses to see.
Clarissa is actually one of my least favorite characters. Her dislike and suspicion of Thatch is near identical to Harry Potter’s dislike of Snape. The only problem is she’s a full-grown woman!
Clarissa has a tendency to blindly trust everyone nice to her, not thinking for a second that anyone has ulterior motives. And she despises Thatch for being brutally honest with her despite proving time and time again that he has integrity as a person and a teacher.
Felix Thatch does the following:
Trains Clarissa to use her magic (granted, the principal ordered him to)
Emphasizes the importance of people wanting to take advantage of her
Makes students write apology letters to her
Lets one of his students read in his classroom during lunchtime
Expresses concern over said student’s habit of hugging male teachers because someone might try to take advantage of her friendly nature.
Meanwhile, Clarissa thinks Thatch:
is secretly trying to kill her
might be trying to enslave her using sex magic
condones student and teacher relationships
It’s completely insane! Hey, who’s the most likely to take advantage of you? Maybe not the guy who keeps warning you about people taking advantage of you.
Clarissa is sometimes funny and relatable. I like how much she cares about her students and her patience with the troublemakers in her class. That’s actually really admirable.
But half the time she’s juvenile and irrational and I just want to shake some sense into her.
She’s the daughter of a powerful witch who apparently terrorized the Witchkin community with evil and forbidden magic. Clarissa never knew her birth mother personally, but she’s treated with suspicion and fear because her mother killed and ruined the lives of basically everyone.
Because of her lineage and her volatile magic, Clarissa is under constant threat of being fired from Womby’s, drained of her magic, and turned into a Morty (Muggle).
So you think she would be really careful, right?
Lol no.
Clarissa goes around saying she wants to be the most powerful witch ever, uses magic when she’s not supposed to, and makes plans to break into the library’s restricted section. It’s a freaking miracle that she didn’t get drained and turned into a Morty.
Here’s another thing: why doesn’t she want to be drained? I really don’t get it. Because of her magic and her mother:
everyone hates her
her sister died
her high school sweetheart blew away in a tornado
Womby’s almost burned down
anyone can turn her into a sex slave
As far as I can tell, there are very few benefits to her having magic and a staggering amount of drawbacks. Call me a defeatist, but if I was Clarissa I would be begging to be drained. Her conviction that magic is her true identity isn’t good enough for me.
All in all, this book is definitely three out of five stars. I enjoyed the worldbuilding and really like Thatch. Some of the magic concepts are surprisingly sexy, which I definitely enjoyed. I just don’t like Clarissa.
But it’s not that simple when she’s all but banned from using her volatile magic, her mother was apparently an evil dictator, and her high school sweetheart was swept away in a tornado. Oh, and she caused the tornado.
But, now that she’s a teacher at Womby’s School for Wayward Witches, she might have a chance to actually become part of the Witchkin community and achieve her goals.
Despite everyone despising her because of her mother, she’s making new friends like Josie, a video-gaming witch who loves all life, and Khaba, a Djinn with a kilt fetish. She’s also getting attention from the very sexy Julien Thistledown.
If only that jerk Felix Thatch would stop patronizing her and let her learn about her mother.
Witches Gone Wicked is essentially Harry Potter fanfiction,which had me skeptical at first, but it was really entertaining at the same time.
Womby’s is the Title I version of Hogwarts. It’s for witchkin too poor to afford other schools as well as ones who were kicked out of other schools. Clarissa, being an art teacher, feels the strain of this with an annual budget of $20. The previous art teacher apparently had the students make mud pie art because of lack of supplies. I really liked the idea of a Title I Hogwarts and found the entire school and the staff really interesting.
Josie and Khaba are really funny and entertaining. Khaba is a bit of a stereotype, but I didn’t mind it that much. Josie was fantastic. Gotta love someone who loves all life and has the guts to treat spiders like puppies.
My favorite character is perhaps Felix Thatch. He’s very sexy and funny and I love almost every scene including him. He’s definitely not a people person by any stretch, but he has a lot of integrity as a teacher and a person that Clarissa just refuses to see.
Clarissa is actually one of my least favorite characters. Her dislike and suspicion of Thatch is near identical to Harry Potter’s dislike of Snape. The only problem is she’s a full-grown woman!
Clarissa has a tendency to blindly trust everyone nice to her, not thinking for a second that anyone has ulterior motives. And she despises Thatch for being brutally honest with her despite proving time and time again that he has integrity as a person and a teacher.
Felix Thatch does the following:
Trains Clarissa to use her magic (granted, the principal ordered him to)
Emphasizes the importance of people wanting to take advantage of her
Makes students write apology letters to her
Lets one of his students read in his classroom during lunchtime
Expresses concern over said student’s habit of hugging male teachers because someone might try to take advantage of her friendly nature.
Meanwhile, Clarissa thinks Thatch:
is secretly trying to kill her
might be trying to enslave her using sex magic
condones student and teacher relationships
It’s completely insane! Hey, who’s the most likely to take advantage of you? Maybe not the guy who keeps warning you about people taking advantage of you.
Clarissa is sometimes funny and relatable. I like how much she cares about her students and her patience with the troublemakers in her class. That’s actually really admirable.
But half the time she’s juvenile and irrational and I just want to shake some sense into her.
She’s the daughter of a powerful witch who apparently terrorized the Witchkin community with evil and forbidden magic. Clarissa never knew her birth mother personally, but she’s treated with suspicion and fear because her mother killed and ruined the lives of basically everyone.
Because of her lineage and her volatile magic, Clarissa is under constant threat of being fired from Womby’s, drained of her magic, and turned into a Morty (Muggle).
So you think she would be really careful, right?
Lol no.
Clarissa goes around saying she wants to be the most powerful witch ever, uses magic when she’s not supposed to, and makes plans to break into the library’s restricted section. It’s a freaking miracle that she didn’t get drained and turned into a Morty.
Here’s another thing: why doesn’t she want to be drained? I really don’t get it. Because of her magic and her mother:
everyone hates her
her sister died
her high school sweetheart blew away in a tornado
Womby’s almost burned down
anyone can turn her into a sex slave
As far as I can tell, there are very few benefits to her having magic and a staggering amount of drawbacks. Call me a defeatist, but if I was Clarissa I would be begging to be drained. Her conviction that magic is her true identity isn’t good enough for me.
All in all, this book is definitely three out of five stars. I enjoyed the worldbuilding and really like Thatch. Some of the magic concepts are surprisingly sexy, which I definitely enjoyed. I just don’t like Clarissa.
Purple Phoenix Games (2266 KP) rated Deception: Murder in Hong Kong in Tabletop Games
Jun 12, 2019
One of the funnest (yeah I know, it’s not a word) parts of board gaming is getting to introduce new people to the hobby! Whether it’s a family gathering or a party with friends, I love breaking out a fun game for any occasion! Some board gamers have an aversion to the ‘party’ games category, but I think you just need to find the right game for the group to have the best experience! One of those games, for me, is Deception: Murder in Hong Kong!
MURDER! As an Investigator, that’s just another day on the job for you. This time feels different, though. Something about this case is off… After the initial evidence is gathered, the team’s Forensic Scientist has disclosed to the team that the killer is one of the Investigators! Everyone is on edge, accusing every other Investigator of being the murderer. Everyone had potential means and motive, and it is up to you to figure it out! As the Forensic Scientist uncovers more evidence, the details of the crime will come to light, and the killer will be revealed. Put your investigative and deductive skills to the test as you try to unmask the killer, or throw the team off your scent if you are the culprit!
DISCLAIMER!! This review is for vanilla Deception: Murder in Hong Kong. We have plans to add in the expansion once one of us purchases it and learns it and teaches it to the rest of us. Should that happen and our review change, we will add that information to this review or to a new review and link to it from here. -T
Deception: Murder in Hong Kong is a game of bluffing, deduction, and hidden identity. All players (except for the Forensic Scientist) have a secret role in the game – Investigator, Witness, Murderer, or Accomplice. The Forensic Scientist knows who the killer is, and how they did it. It is their job to guide the Investigators to the killer by providing clues about the uncovered evidence. The Investigators are trying to interpret the clues and uncover the killer’s identity. The Witness knows who the killer is, but has not yet figured out how they did it. The Murderer and Accomplice are looking to pin the murder on one of the other innocent members of the team! As clues are revealed, each player gets a chance to make a case against the player whom they think is the murderer. You must convince everyone of your logic, or else the killer could get away! In a game where everyone is a suspect, who can you trust? Gather clues, present your case, and put your poker face to the test in this ultimate game of deception! (See what I did there?)
I thoroughly enjoy games of deduction. Anything where you have to think and solve puzzles/riddles/etc. is fun for me. In Deception, it’s a race to see who can find the solution first. Not only do you have to deduce the correct answer from the provided clues, but you also have to put your persuasive skills to the test! Unless you can convince everyone that a specific player is the killer, they might turn their accusations towards someone else, or even worse, towards YOU! You really have to think outside of the box to interpret the Forensic Scientist’s clues, and I like to challenge myself to find the solution in as few turns as possible. The faster I can solve the murder, the smarter I feel. Don’t lie, it makes you feel smart too when you figure it out before anyone else!
The only part of Deception that I don’t really enjoy is the bluffing aspect, which is one of the most integral parts of the game, I know. I am just a horrible liar with a questionable poker face. If we play and I am the Murderer, I am almost always found out. Whenever anyone accuses me, my mind blanks and I cannot think of a single convincing way to get everyone off my scent! That is a personal problem, though, because when I get to be just a regular ol’ Investigator, I have a blast! I can still be accused, but I always feel like I have an easier time getting people off my case if I am actually innocent. I know some people really enjoy being the Murderer because they like the challenge of deceiving the entire team. I am not one of those people though. If I was guaranteed to be just a plain Investigator (or the Forensic Scientist) every time, I would probably pull this game out more!
Deception: Murder in Hong Kong is a ‘party’ game, but with the right group, it can still be a challenging game. A higher player count, in this case, does not necessarily equate to a chaotic game either. So give Deception a try. It’ll be worth it! Purple Phoenix Games gives it a 17 / 24.
https://purplephoenixgames.wordpress.com/2018/12/26/deception-murder-in-hong-kong-review/
MURDER! As an Investigator, that’s just another day on the job for you. This time feels different, though. Something about this case is off… After the initial evidence is gathered, the team’s Forensic Scientist has disclosed to the team that the killer is one of the Investigators! Everyone is on edge, accusing every other Investigator of being the murderer. Everyone had potential means and motive, and it is up to you to figure it out! As the Forensic Scientist uncovers more evidence, the details of the crime will come to light, and the killer will be revealed. Put your investigative and deductive skills to the test as you try to unmask the killer, or throw the team off your scent if you are the culprit!
DISCLAIMER!! This review is for vanilla Deception: Murder in Hong Kong. We have plans to add in the expansion once one of us purchases it and learns it and teaches it to the rest of us. Should that happen and our review change, we will add that information to this review or to a new review and link to it from here. -T
Deception: Murder in Hong Kong is a game of bluffing, deduction, and hidden identity. All players (except for the Forensic Scientist) have a secret role in the game – Investigator, Witness, Murderer, or Accomplice. The Forensic Scientist knows who the killer is, and how they did it. It is their job to guide the Investigators to the killer by providing clues about the uncovered evidence. The Investigators are trying to interpret the clues and uncover the killer’s identity. The Witness knows who the killer is, but has not yet figured out how they did it. The Murderer and Accomplice are looking to pin the murder on one of the other innocent members of the team! As clues are revealed, each player gets a chance to make a case against the player whom they think is the murderer. You must convince everyone of your logic, or else the killer could get away! In a game where everyone is a suspect, who can you trust? Gather clues, present your case, and put your poker face to the test in this ultimate game of deception! (See what I did there?)
I thoroughly enjoy games of deduction. Anything where you have to think and solve puzzles/riddles/etc. is fun for me. In Deception, it’s a race to see who can find the solution first. Not only do you have to deduce the correct answer from the provided clues, but you also have to put your persuasive skills to the test! Unless you can convince everyone that a specific player is the killer, they might turn their accusations towards someone else, or even worse, towards YOU! You really have to think outside of the box to interpret the Forensic Scientist’s clues, and I like to challenge myself to find the solution in as few turns as possible. The faster I can solve the murder, the smarter I feel. Don’t lie, it makes you feel smart too when you figure it out before anyone else!
The only part of Deception that I don’t really enjoy is the bluffing aspect, which is one of the most integral parts of the game, I know. I am just a horrible liar with a questionable poker face. If we play and I am the Murderer, I am almost always found out. Whenever anyone accuses me, my mind blanks and I cannot think of a single convincing way to get everyone off my scent! That is a personal problem, though, because when I get to be just a regular ol’ Investigator, I have a blast! I can still be accused, but I always feel like I have an easier time getting people off my case if I am actually innocent. I know some people really enjoy being the Murderer because they like the challenge of deceiving the entire team. I am not one of those people though. If I was guaranteed to be just a plain Investigator (or the Forensic Scientist) every time, I would probably pull this game out more!
Deception: Murder in Hong Kong is a ‘party’ game, but with the right group, it can still be a challenging game. A higher player count, in this case, does not necessarily equate to a chaotic game either. So give Deception a try. It’ll be worth it! Purple Phoenix Games gives it a 17 / 24.
https://purplephoenixgames.wordpress.com/2018/12/26/deception-murder-in-hong-kong-review/
Kyera (8 KP) rated Lord Of Shadows in Books
Jan 31, 2018
Lord of Shadows is the second book in the Dark Artifices trilogy by Cassandra Clare. The book is fantastically written and follows our main characters as they deal with the aftermath of Lady Midnight. Be sure that you read Lady Midnight before delving into this book as there will be many spoilers.
The storylines come together and diverge beautifully in this story, allowing each character to shine. Even though Julian and Emma are the main characters, we get to spend more time with the other Blackthorns, Kit, Cristina, Diana and the others. Each character grows over the course of the novel and we get to know them better. My heart goes out to Dru because although she has her family, she doesn’t have a best friend or someone to truly talk to – like Julian and Emma or Ty and Livvy. She clearly longs for that connection, or to at least be included more by her family and I think many can relate to that.
I loved getting to know Ty and Livvy more because they have such a unique and precious bond. It was also great to see Kit join in with their adventures, even though he is not new to the Shadow World he is new to being a Shadowhunter. They made him feel like part of the family and he understood Ty immediately in a way that most outsiders don’t take the time to. He fits in perfectly with them and I couldn’t wait to see how they would grow as a trio throughout the novel.
Mark has come into his own in this novel – the events he went through in Lady Midnight and with the Wild Hunt changed him, made him less sure of himself. Since he has been back with his family, he is learning to trust again and view himself as a Shadowhunter. He must reconcile his feelings about Kieran with the faerie’s betrayal in Lady Midnight, become more responsible and hopefully take some of the burdens off Julian.
Emma is dealing with the aftermath of discovering who killed her parents and why. As that pursuit has fueled her for the last five years, it’s a strange transition for her. It doesn’t help that her relationship with Julian is as complicated as ever. The two are battling with their emotions and letting it affect them as parabatai. The characters that Cassie has created are so real that you hurt when they hurt and just wish for a happy ending for all of them.
It was fantastic to see the cameos from some of the beloved characters we know from the other Shadowhunter Chronicles series. I personally miss them and always wonder what they’re up to now, how their lives are and what shenanigans they’re embroiled in. Cassie does not disappoint and the cameos were lengthy and detailed enough that I feel satisfied (although of course, I would be happy with several spin-off books chronicling their adventures).
Lord of Shadows takes our heroes outside of Los Angeles, which was brilliant because it allowed Cassie to continue to build and artfully illustrate her world. My favourite new location was Faerie, which we have visited before in the books but was allowed to flourish in this novel. The land was described in greater detail and the Fae themselves were given more depth. Previously, we witnessed interactions between the Seelie Queen and the Nephilim, but now we were able to learn more about the Unseelie.
I didn’t feel that there were any pacing issues in this story – the stories were interwoven with one another masterfully and action was interspersed with storytelling and world building elements. Each action made by the characters purposefully brought us down a road that while we won’t understand fully yet, you can sense the plot points are being introduced and will be fully realized in Queen of Air and Darkness. There are elements that feel like foreshadowing, but we won’t understand them until the series has concluded.
The final chapter was a rollercoaster that brought together several storylines and found all our characters together – but nothing played out as expected. Cassie is skilled at subverting our expectations and yet not leaving us unsatisfied with the conclusion. While I cannot believe some of the things that happened over the course of the novel, I appreciate the beauty of the plot and story, while not feeling like the book left me with a torturous cliffhanger.
I’ve mentioned it before, but Cassie’s books continue to get better and Lord of Shadows was fantastic. I highly recommend reading this book (after Lady Midnight, of course, and perhaps the rest of the Shadowhunter Chronicles as well) because in my humble opinion you will not regret it. I am absolutely in love with the book and utterly destroyed that we have to wait until 2019 to read the conclusion.
The storylines come together and diverge beautifully in this story, allowing each character to shine. Even though Julian and Emma are the main characters, we get to spend more time with the other Blackthorns, Kit, Cristina, Diana and the others. Each character grows over the course of the novel and we get to know them better. My heart goes out to Dru because although she has her family, she doesn’t have a best friend or someone to truly talk to – like Julian and Emma or Ty and Livvy. She clearly longs for that connection, or to at least be included more by her family and I think many can relate to that.
I loved getting to know Ty and Livvy more because they have such a unique and precious bond. It was also great to see Kit join in with their adventures, even though he is not new to the Shadow World he is new to being a Shadowhunter. They made him feel like part of the family and he understood Ty immediately in a way that most outsiders don’t take the time to. He fits in perfectly with them and I couldn’t wait to see how they would grow as a trio throughout the novel.
Mark has come into his own in this novel – the events he went through in Lady Midnight and with the Wild Hunt changed him, made him less sure of himself. Since he has been back with his family, he is learning to trust again and view himself as a Shadowhunter. He must reconcile his feelings about Kieran with the faerie’s betrayal in Lady Midnight, become more responsible and hopefully take some of the burdens off Julian.
Emma is dealing with the aftermath of discovering who killed her parents and why. As that pursuit has fueled her for the last five years, it’s a strange transition for her. It doesn’t help that her relationship with Julian is as complicated as ever. The two are battling with their emotions and letting it affect them as parabatai. The characters that Cassie has created are so real that you hurt when they hurt and just wish for a happy ending for all of them.
It was fantastic to see the cameos from some of the beloved characters we know from the other Shadowhunter Chronicles series. I personally miss them and always wonder what they’re up to now, how their lives are and what shenanigans they’re embroiled in. Cassie does not disappoint and the cameos were lengthy and detailed enough that I feel satisfied (although of course, I would be happy with several spin-off books chronicling their adventures).
Lord of Shadows takes our heroes outside of Los Angeles, which was brilliant because it allowed Cassie to continue to build and artfully illustrate her world. My favourite new location was Faerie, which we have visited before in the books but was allowed to flourish in this novel. The land was described in greater detail and the Fae themselves were given more depth. Previously, we witnessed interactions between the Seelie Queen and the Nephilim, but now we were able to learn more about the Unseelie.
I didn’t feel that there were any pacing issues in this story – the stories were interwoven with one another masterfully and action was interspersed with storytelling and world building elements. Each action made by the characters purposefully brought us down a road that while we won’t understand fully yet, you can sense the plot points are being introduced and will be fully realized in Queen of Air and Darkness. There are elements that feel like foreshadowing, but we won’t understand them until the series has concluded.
The final chapter was a rollercoaster that brought together several storylines and found all our characters together – but nothing played out as expected. Cassie is skilled at subverting our expectations and yet not leaving us unsatisfied with the conclusion. While I cannot believe some of the things that happened over the course of the novel, I appreciate the beauty of the plot and story, while not feeling like the book left me with a torturous cliffhanger.
I’ve mentioned it before, but Cassie’s books continue to get better and Lord of Shadows was fantastic. I highly recommend reading this book (after Lady Midnight, of course, and perhaps the rest of the Shadowhunter Chronicles as well) because in my humble opinion you will not regret it. I am absolutely in love with the book and utterly destroyed that we have to wait until 2019 to read the conclusion.
Heather Cranmer (2721 KP) rated Gold Manor Ghost House in Books
Jun 6, 2018
(This review can be found on my blog <a href="http://themisadventuresofatwentysomething.blogspot.com/">The (Mis)Adventures of a Twenty-Something Year Old Girl</a>).
I have to admit that the blurb is what drew me in to this book. While it wasn't really that ghostly, it was still a good book.
Usually any title with the word "ghost" in it captures my attention, and it was no different for this book. The title references the name of the tv show the characters are in. It also reflects real life for them.
I don't like the cover at all. It's not very captivating nor does it tell us anything about the book besides one of the characters is a girl. There's so many different covers this book could've had, so why settle on a boring photo of some girl. I just hope the cover doesn't put others off because this is a good read.
The world building, while believable, was confusing at some points in the book. I don't know if it's because a lot of questions will be revealed in the next book (if there is one) or what. There were times when I had no idea what was going on. I even would go back a few pages and reread them in case I had missed something, but I hadn't. I don't really know how to describe it other than to say the world building was choppy at times. Besides being confused, I found myself drawn to the world which the author created for this book. There were times when I felt like I was even one of the characters.
I enjoyed the pacing. Once you get past the confusing bits of the story, the pacing is done rather well. I was totally immersed in this book, and I could've wait to read the next chapter to find out what the characters would experience next.
The plot was interesting albeit confusing since we don't really know where and what Anna is yet. It's the typical good versus evil story, but written in a very interesting way. We're not sure who to trust yet, and we're left wondering with whether Anna is good or evil. The plot thickens...in the next book. (At least, I hope there's a next boo since so many questions are left unanswered).
I liked the character of Anna. She's been through a traumatizing experience, yet she's a strong person. I felt bad for her with what she was going through, and I loved her feelings for Adam! I enjoyed Adam. He's still a very mysterious character, not because he wasn't written well, but because I think the author wants to save what he's really about for another book (hopefully) and because she wants her audience to make up their own mind about him. I love how protective he is and how sexy he sounds! He's British (like my husband) so he instantly scored points with that one! I felt bad for Corey when it came to his unrequited love from Anna. He's her best friend, yet he yearns for more. I was Team Corey all the way even though I liked Adam. I wanted Anna and Corey to become a couple all throughout the book! He comes across as being a tad more sweet than Adam, and I don't know what it is about Corey, but I just loved him a lot. To me, he was better boyfriend material.
The dialogue didn't really sound like it was teenage like. It sounded more like the way adults would talk, not a bunch of teenagers. However, I did enjoy the dialogue but kept forgetting that Anna was meant to be only sixteen. It annoyed me how Adam kept saying "love" though. I found it to be too stereotypical. Yes, some British people do say "love," but Adam seemed to say it an awful lot. Having lived in England for 6 years, I can tell you that British people do not say "love" all the time. However that's just a me thing and shouldn't affect the book for others. I enjoyed the scenes Corey was in the most though as his dialogue was the most enjoyable in my opinion. I didn't notice any swearing in this book.
Overall, Gold Manor Ghost House by Merry Brown is an enjoyable book despite some of its confusing scenes and minor faults. I really hope there's a second book in the works because I enjoyed the first one and am wanting my questions to be answered. The way the first book is written, it seems like there will be a second book which I will most definitely read!
I'd recommend this book for those aged 14+ who are fans of the paranormal that are also looking for a bit of romance.
I'd give Gold Manor Ghost House by Merry Brown a 3.75 out of 5.
(I received a free ecopy of this book from the tour host in exchange for a fair and honest review).
I have to admit that the blurb is what drew me in to this book. While it wasn't really that ghostly, it was still a good book.
Usually any title with the word "ghost" in it captures my attention, and it was no different for this book. The title references the name of the tv show the characters are in. It also reflects real life for them.
I don't like the cover at all. It's not very captivating nor does it tell us anything about the book besides one of the characters is a girl. There's so many different covers this book could've had, so why settle on a boring photo of some girl. I just hope the cover doesn't put others off because this is a good read.
The world building, while believable, was confusing at some points in the book. I don't know if it's because a lot of questions will be revealed in the next book (if there is one) or what. There were times when I had no idea what was going on. I even would go back a few pages and reread them in case I had missed something, but I hadn't. I don't really know how to describe it other than to say the world building was choppy at times. Besides being confused, I found myself drawn to the world which the author created for this book. There were times when I felt like I was even one of the characters.
I enjoyed the pacing. Once you get past the confusing bits of the story, the pacing is done rather well. I was totally immersed in this book, and I could've wait to read the next chapter to find out what the characters would experience next.
The plot was interesting albeit confusing since we don't really know where and what Anna is yet. It's the typical good versus evil story, but written in a very interesting way. We're not sure who to trust yet, and we're left wondering with whether Anna is good or evil. The plot thickens...in the next book. (At least, I hope there's a next boo since so many questions are left unanswered).
I liked the character of Anna. She's been through a traumatizing experience, yet she's a strong person. I felt bad for her with what she was going through, and I loved her feelings for Adam! I enjoyed Adam. He's still a very mysterious character, not because he wasn't written well, but because I think the author wants to save what he's really about for another book (hopefully) and because she wants her audience to make up their own mind about him. I love how protective he is and how sexy he sounds! He's British (like my husband) so he instantly scored points with that one! I felt bad for Corey when it came to his unrequited love from Anna. He's her best friend, yet he yearns for more. I was Team Corey all the way even though I liked Adam. I wanted Anna and Corey to become a couple all throughout the book! He comes across as being a tad more sweet than Adam, and I don't know what it is about Corey, but I just loved him a lot. To me, he was better boyfriend material.
The dialogue didn't really sound like it was teenage like. It sounded more like the way adults would talk, not a bunch of teenagers. However, I did enjoy the dialogue but kept forgetting that Anna was meant to be only sixteen. It annoyed me how Adam kept saying "love" though. I found it to be too stereotypical. Yes, some British people do say "love," but Adam seemed to say it an awful lot. Having lived in England for 6 years, I can tell you that British people do not say "love" all the time. However that's just a me thing and shouldn't affect the book for others. I enjoyed the scenes Corey was in the most though as his dialogue was the most enjoyable in my opinion. I didn't notice any swearing in this book.
Overall, Gold Manor Ghost House by Merry Brown is an enjoyable book despite some of its confusing scenes and minor faults. I really hope there's a second book in the works because I enjoyed the first one and am wanting my questions to be answered. The way the first book is written, it seems like there will be a second book which I will most definitely read!
I'd recommend this book for those aged 14+ who are fans of the paranormal that are also looking for a bit of romance.
I'd give Gold Manor Ghost House by Merry Brown a 3.75 out of 5.
(I received a free ecopy of this book from the tour host in exchange for a fair and honest review).
honingwords (32 KP) rated Alias in Books
Jul 5, 2018
I’ve never read a book by Cari Hunter that I haven't loved and Alias lived up to my high expectations.
I’ve never read a book by Cari Hunter that I haven't loved and Alias lived up to my high expectations. It became available to me soon after I finished the third of her Dark Peaks trilogy so I was able to fangirl-mode right into it.
It is an absolute joy to read Cari Hunter’s books. I’m so thankful I have stumbled across her at the point where there have been a few books to binge on. It is no secret that I think she is one of the finest authors currently, and she has re-awakened my interest in crime thrillers after many years of reading solely romances. It’s a bonus that she is writing novels about regional parts of the UK.
Alias is written in the first person through-out, which is different to her other books and I found this quite refreshing.
The plot starts off with a car crash on a Welsh country road. The woman driver finds herself alive, confused as to who the dead woman beside her is, and then frustrated she doesn’t remember anything about herself, including her name, or why she was driving through Wales.
The opening scene brought tears to my eyes when I realised a great writer was going to be looking after the next few hours of my reading pleasure.
The local Police spend their time trying to work out if she should be prosecuted and she decides to keep tight-lipped about the small pieces of information that start to come back to her through her fugue while she is hospitalised, and then for the short while after she is released.
The rest of the book is about her finding out whether she is a goody or a baddy; whether she should trust Detective Bronwen Pryce, or, in fact, any of the other characters who tell her they are friends and colleagues. Cari makes us wonder about everyone until the very end of the novel.
The details! The details! Cari just loads her pages with perfect details about what is happening to the characters. There is never anything to stutter over. I never have to read a sentence twice because I didn’t understand it, or lose track of the easy-going flow.
I had to note the parts which made me beam during this book so I could re-read them at leisure. That’s it! Cari Hunter makes me beam while reading her books.
Her character’s legs are ‘wobblier than watered-down jelly’, they find ‘novelty of two cooperating lungs’, their ‘fingers poke out’ (from her splint) ‘as fat as unpopped sausages.’
Cari doesn’t simply give her characters goose pimples - they ‘tickle as they rise along her arm.’ They use ‘the painted numbers on the wheelie bins to gauge’ their progress down the street. When they eat they try ‘at first to isolate flavours and then giving up and simply enjoy the mix.’ Their stomach doesn’t just rumble; eating silences their ‘gastric percussion and leaves them with a stitch to walk off.’ The weather isn't cold, it is ‘brittle cold.’
The amnesia aspect had me in tears at points. There are people who possibly may no longer be alive and when she meets her friend for the ‘first time’ I became quite emotional.
As per her other books Cari has humorous moments throughout Alias.
The character is ‘sure that my choice of forget-me-nots wasn’t intended to be ironic.’ And there is a car-buying scene which make me laugh out loud.
There is no CSI Effect in this book. Some blood testing will be ‘four to five weeks at best’ rather than the four to five hours it can sometimes be in fiction.
I’m really sorry to learn there are no plans to take these characters further. Cari writes well-rounded characters with believable back stories and I would have loved to have seen a couple of the ones in this book teased out a little more in at least one sequel.
Don’t be picking this book up if you are looking for bodice-ripping sex. It just isn't there. Part of me cries out for more than Cari usually offers us, the part of me which craves romances. Holy Crap! She can sure write sex when she wants to but, people, this. is. a. crime. novel.
She could have put more sex in, but then it wouldn’t be true to itself, she wouldn’t be true to herself, and the novel would suffer for reader-driven gratuitous sex scenes which aren’t necessary to the plot.
If you would like recommendations for that kind of book let me know and I’ll introduce you to different genres and different authors.
For now, sit back and enjoy good down-to-earth well-written crime fiction.
It is an absolute joy to read Cari Hunter’s books. I’m so thankful I have stumbled across her at the point where there have been a few books to binge on. It is no secret that I think she is one of the finest authors currently, and she has re-awakened my interest in crime thrillers after many years of reading solely romances. It’s a bonus that she is writing novels about regional parts of the UK.
Alias is written in the first person through-out, which is different to her other books and I found this quite refreshing.
The plot starts off with a car crash on a Welsh country road. The woman driver finds herself alive, confused as to who the dead woman beside her is, and then frustrated she doesn’t remember anything about herself, including her name, or why she was driving through Wales.
The opening scene brought tears to my eyes when I realised a great writer was going to be looking after the next few hours of my reading pleasure.
The local Police spend their time trying to work out if she should be prosecuted and she decides to keep tight-lipped about the small pieces of information that start to come back to her through her fugue while she is hospitalised, and then for the short while after she is released.
The rest of the book is about her finding out whether she is a goody or a baddy; whether she should trust Detective Bronwen Pryce, or, in fact, any of the other characters who tell her they are friends and colleagues. Cari makes us wonder about everyone until the very end of the novel.
The details! The details! Cari just loads her pages with perfect details about what is happening to the characters. There is never anything to stutter over. I never have to read a sentence twice because I didn’t understand it, or lose track of the easy-going flow.
I had to note the parts which made me beam during this book so I could re-read them at leisure. That’s it! Cari Hunter makes me beam while reading her books.
Her character’s legs are ‘wobblier than watered-down jelly’, they find ‘novelty of two cooperating lungs’, their ‘fingers poke out’ (from her splint) ‘as fat as unpopped sausages.’
Cari doesn’t simply give her characters goose pimples - they ‘tickle as they rise along her arm.’ They use ‘the painted numbers on the wheelie bins to gauge’ their progress down the street. When they eat they try ‘at first to isolate flavours and then giving up and simply enjoy the mix.’ Their stomach doesn’t just rumble; eating silences their ‘gastric percussion and leaves them with a stitch to walk off.’ The weather isn't cold, it is ‘brittle cold.’
The amnesia aspect had me in tears at points. There are people who possibly may no longer be alive and when she meets her friend for the ‘first time’ I became quite emotional.
As per her other books Cari has humorous moments throughout Alias.
The character is ‘sure that my choice of forget-me-nots wasn’t intended to be ironic.’ And there is a car-buying scene which make me laugh out loud.
There is no CSI Effect in this book. Some blood testing will be ‘four to five weeks at best’ rather than the four to five hours it can sometimes be in fiction.
I’m really sorry to learn there are no plans to take these characters further. Cari writes well-rounded characters with believable back stories and I would have loved to have seen a couple of the ones in this book teased out a little more in at least one sequel.
Don’t be picking this book up if you are looking for bodice-ripping sex. It just isn't there. Part of me cries out for more than Cari usually offers us, the part of me which craves romances. Holy Crap! She can sure write sex when she wants to but, people, this. is. a. crime. novel.
She could have put more sex in, but then it wouldn’t be true to itself, she wouldn’t be true to herself, and the novel would suffer for reader-driven gratuitous sex scenes which aren’t necessary to the plot.
If you would like recommendations for that kind of book let me know and I’ll introduce you to different genres and different authors.
For now, sit back and enjoy good down-to-earth well-written crime fiction.
I have a tough time reviewing books about Black Feminism. I enjoy reading them - well, maybe "enjoy" isn't quite the right word. They can be tough. I am glad to have read them. But how to review them? I'm a white woman, it's not really my place to critique these works. But it would be remiss of me to not talk about them - denying them the same space on my blog that I give to everything else I read is its own kind of erasure. I'm not sure how best to resolve this, but for this specific book, at least, I can talk about what I learned from it.
What I learned is that some of my childhood was straight-up racist. I always thought of my childhood as pretty idyllic - my parents were high school sweethearts, and to this day still adore each other. We lived in a house my parents owned. (My most formative years were actually spent in the house my mother grew up in; my parents bought it from my grandparents when I was seven.) We got to run around and play on a quiet neighborhood street where we knew all of our neighbors. We had pets of various species, we got technology fairly quickly since my father was a computer geek, we had a garden out back that Mom canned beans out of every year.
But I was homeschooled until eighth grade. (With Bob Jones and Abeka Books, notoriously Christian curriculum. I thought humans lived with dinosaurs well into my twenties.) We went to a conservative Christian church every Sunday. (And Tuesday. And some Fridays.) While my parents taught that I could be anything I wanted to be, the church definitely over rode that with "women should be subservient to men" and "don't trust your own judgment, ask God/your parents/the elders."
The incident that Jerkins' book brought back to mind, though, was a party I went to. I'm pretty sure it was someone's birthday party, but at a church. Not our church. There were a lot of people, though, so I could be wrong about the birthday party. It was this party where I got the tiny scar in my eyebrow - some kid broke the bat on the pinata and threw it behind him, where it hit me in the face. Before that, though, was the cake walk. There were footprints laid out on the concrete floor, and we paced around them while music played, kind of like musical chairs, I think. (I was younger than ten, my memory is a little fuzzy.) I won the cake! I thought nothing of this until reading This Will Be My Undoing.
"The cakewalk was a dance performed in the late nineteenth century at slave get-togethers. You lean or rear back and kick your feet out left and right or vice versa as you move forward......White people would watch them dance, fascinated by the exoticness of it all. These spectacles were purposeful humiliations. But the cakewalk evolved as slaves' own form of subversion. While serving at large and fancy parties in the early 1800s, they would watch well-to-do white people perform strict and stiff dances, like cotillions and quadrilles, and mimic them, exaggerating the bowing and small skips and hops and adding some high steps and jumps. In diaries kept by white people in the antebellum South, the cakewalk is not depicted as a form of satire. After all, why would a sweet slave mock his benevolent master? To white people's eyes, this imitation seemed like flattery. They were delighted that the slaves were attempting their civilized dances. In fact, they would hold competitions and the winning slaves would receive a cake, hence the name. Yet they were being mocked, right in front of their faces."
WHY WAS THIS BEING HELD AT A CHURCH PARTY? I don't recall if it was all white kids, but it probably was. My hometown was not very ethnically diverse. The more I learn - academically, politically, socially, secularly - the more I realize my childhood was pretty fucked up in a lot of different ways. I don't know if it was more or less fucked up than most white kids' childhoods - white supremacy is insidious. I was an ignorant child at the time, but to realize, decades later, how racist holding a cakewalk is, stopped me in my tracks. (Incidentally, this means that calling something "a cakewalk" has its roots in racism, like so many other things in our language. Cakewalks weren't easy - but the best dancers made them look that way.)
So that's what I can say about this book. I learned something about my childhood. Beyond that, all I will offer is that Jerkins is an excellent writer; the book flows well and is an easy read, despite the subject matter not being easy. Read it. It's important.
You can find all my reviews at http://goddessinthestacks.com
What I learned is that some of my childhood was straight-up racist. I always thought of my childhood as pretty idyllic - my parents were high school sweethearts, and to this day still adore each other. We lived in a house my parents owned. (My most formative years were actually spent in the house my mother grew up in; my parents bought it from my grandparents when I was seven.) We got to run around and play on a quiet neighborhood street where we knew all of our neighbors. We had pets of various species, we got technology fairly quickly since my father was a computer geek, we had a garden out back that Mom canned beans out of every year.
But I was homeschooled until eighth grade. (With Bob Jones and Abeka Books, notoriously Christian curriculum. I thought humans lived with dinosaurs well into my twenties.) We went to a conservative Christian church every Sunday. (And Tuesday. And some Fridays.) While my parents taught that I could be anything I wanted to be, the church definitely over rode that with "women should be subservient to men" and "don't trust your own judgment, ask God/your parents/the elders."
The incident that Jerkins' book brought back to mind, though, was a party I went to. I'm pretty sure it was someone's birthday party, but at a church. Not our church. There were a lot of people, though, so I could be wrong about the birthday party. It was this party where I got the tiny scar in my eyebrow - some kid broke the bat on the pinata and threw it behind him, where it hit me in the face. Before that, though, was the cake walk. There were footprints laid out on the concrete floor, and we paced around them while music played, kind of like musical chairs, I think. (I was younger than ten, my memory is a little fuzzy.) I won the cake! I thought nothing of this until reading This Will Be My Undoing.
"The cakewalk was a dance performed in the late nineteenth century at slave get-togethers. You lean or rear back and kick your feet out left and right or vice versa as you move forward......White people would watch them dance, fascinated by the exoticness of it all. These spectacles were purposeful humiliations. But the cakewalk evolved as slaves' own form of subversion. While serving at large and fancy parties in the early 1800s, they would watch well-to-do white people perform strict and stiff dances, like cotillions and quadrilles, and mimic them, exaggerating the bowing and small skips and hops and adding some high steps and jumps. In diaries kept by white people in the antebellum South, the cakewalk is not depicted as a form of satire. After all, why would a sweet slave mock his benevolent master? To white people's eyes, this imitation seemed like flattery. They were delighted that the slaves were attempting their civilized dances. In fact, they would hold competitions and the winning slaves would receive a cake, hence the name. Yet they were being mocked, right in front of their faces."
WHY WAS THIS BEING HELD AT A CHURCH PARTY? I don't recall if it was all white kids, but it probably was. My hometown was not very ethnically diverse. The more I learn - academically, politically, socially, secularly - the more I realize my childhood was pretty fucked up in a lot of different ways. I don't know if it was more or less fucked up than most white kids' childhoods - white supremacy is insidious. I was an ignorant child at the time, but to realize, decades later, how racist holding a cakewalk is, stopped me in my tracks. (Incidentally, this means that calling something "a cakewalk" has its roots in racism, like so many other things in our language. Cakewalks weren't easy - but the best dancers made them look that way.)
So that's what I can say about this book. I learned something about my childhood. Beyond that, all I will offer is that Jerkins is an excellent writer; the book flows well and is an easy read, despite the subject matter not being easy. Read it. It's important.
You can find all my reviews at http://goddessinthestacks.com
Gareth von Kallenbach (974 KP) rated I, Robot (2004) in Movies
Aug 14, 2019
Tales of a dark and foreboding future where technology has run amuck have been cautioning viewers ever since Orwell made the phrase “Big Brother” a household expression. Other films such as ?”, “Westworld”, “Blade Runner” and “The Terminator” often show a dark and dangerous future where dependence upon technology created to serve mankind has lead to its eventual downfall.
In the film “I Robot” Director Alex Proyas who’s past work includes “The Crow” and “Dark City” tells the tale of a near future where robots have become commonplace and are entrusted to do all manner of tasks ranging from package delivery to waiting table and caring for households. The robots are assured to be safe as they are governed by a set of behavioral restrictors that require them to obey all human commands save for those to harm another human, as robots are not allowed to harm or by inaction allow to be harmed any human.
The film stars Will Smith as Del Spooner, a Chicago Homicide detective who does not trust robots and is highly suspicious of them. The fact that in 2035 there has yet to be one documented case worldwide of a robot ever being involved in a crime is of little concern to Del as he sees the potential for danger in technology that is so widely spread.
Del is in many ways a technophobe as aside from his modern car, he has a retro lifestyle including an old fashioned alarm clock, vintage 2004 shoes, and a fondness for music from the 1970’s. An incident in Del’s past has kept him off the force for a while and has only furthered his distaste for robotics and their growing place in society.
No sooner is Del back at work than an apparent suicide at U.S. Robotics by a friend sets the film into motion. What to all seems to be an open and shut case of suicide only causes Del to become more suspicious. Del soon discovers a new model robot locked in the office of the victim, who flees from crime scene and refuses to obey the orders to halt given to him.
The fact that the robot ignores command given by a human thus violating his central laws of programming is put off as a simple malfunction by Billionaire Lawrence Robertson (Bruce Greenwood), who does not want Del’s suspicions to disrupt his business plans on the eve of the largest rollout of new robots in history. It is explained that the new NX-5 model is about to be released to the public and soon there will be one robot for every 5 humans in the world and with so much invested in this, Robertson places a gag order on Del and the entire police force to forget about the renegade robot and not say a word to anyone.
Naturally Del does not follow this command and he suspects that there is a larger and much more serious threat posed to the public even though everyone around his says that he is paranoid and desperate to find or create any evidence to support his theory that robots are not as safe as everyone believes they are.
What follows is an action packed game of cat and mouse as Del and a U.S. Robotics scientist named Susan (Bridget Moynahan), start to uncover a deeper mystery, once in which the very world they have taken for granted is about to change.
The film is a visual marvel that shows you a fairly realistic view of the future as aside from the robots and futuristic highways, the world of 2035 does not look that much different than today.
Proyas knows that Smith is his star and he does a great job allowing him to carry the picture without allowing the visual effects to dominate the film, though they are spectacular. The futuristic highways and a great chase sequence were highlights of the film and had a surprising amount of tension and drama mixed into what was a solid action sequence.
Smith plays Spooner, as a man with demons yet never ceases to become a sensitive character despite his hard edge. He is a man that is determined to follow his instincts and do what is best for the people he is sworn to protect.
The film does only play lip service to the series of novels by Asimov, but it does tell a very good cautionary tale of human’s interaction and dependence upon technology without becoming preachy or losing site of the message that society must ensure to have a balance between humanity and technology in order to thrive.
If I had to find fault, it would be that many of the supporting roles were fairly bland, as Moynahan was not given much to do aside from play a Damsel in distress and the always solid James Cromwell and Bruce Greenwood were not used nearly enough. That being said “I Robot” delivers everything you want in a summer film and more.
In the film “I Robot” Director Alex Proyas who’s past work includes “The Crow” and “Dark City” tells the tale of a near future where robots have become commonplace and are entrusted to do all manner of tasks ranging from package delivery to waiting table and caring for households. The robots are assured to be safe as they are governed by a set of behavioral restrictors that require them to obey all human commands save for those to harm another human, as robots are not allowed to harm or by inaction allow to be harmed any human.
The film stars Will Smith as Del Spooner, a Chicago Homicide detective who does not trust robots and is highly suspicious of them. The fact that in 2035 there has yet to be one documented case worldwide of a robot ever being involved in a crime is of little concern to Del as he sees the potential for danger in technology that is so widely spread.
Del is in many ways a technophobe as aside from his modern car, he has a retro lifestyle including an old fashioned alarm clock, vintage 2004 shoes, and a fondness for music from the 1970’s. An incident in Del’s past has kept him off the force for a while and has only furthered his distaste for robotics and their growing place in society.
No sooner is Del back at work than an apparent suicide at U.S. Robotics by a friend sets the film into motion. What to all seems to be an open and shut case of suicide only causes Del to become more suspicious. Del soon discovers a new model robot locked in the office of the victim, who flees from crime scene and refuses to obey the orders to halt given to him.
The fact that the robot ignores command given by a human thus violating his central laws of programming is put off as a simple malfunction by Billionaire Lawrence Robertson (Bruce Greenwood), who does not want Del’s suspicions to disrupt his business plans on the eve of the largest rollout of new robots in history. It is explained that the new NX-5 model is about to be released to the public and soon there will be one robot for every 5 humans in the world and with so much invested in this, Robertson places a gag order on Del and the entire police force to forget about the renegade robot and not say a word to anyone.
Naturally Del does not follow this command and he suspects that there is a larger and much more serious threat posed to the public even though everyone around his says that he is paranoid and desperate to find or create any evidence to support his theory that robots are not as safe as everyone believes they are.
What follows is an action packed game of cat and mouse as Del and a U.S. Robotics scientist named Susan (Bridget Moynahan), start to uncover a deeper mystery, once in which the very world they have taken for granted is about to change.
The film is a visual marvel that shows you a fairly realistic view of the future as aside from the robots and futuristic highways, the world of 2035 does not look that much different than today.
Proyas knows that Smith is his star and he does a great job allowing him to carry the picture without allowing the visual effects to dominate the film, though they are spectacular. The futuristic highways and a great chase sequence were highlights of the film and had a surprising amount of tension and drama mixed into what was a solid action sequence.
Smith plays Spooner, as a man with demons yet never ceases to become a sensitive character despite his hard edge. He is a man that is determined to follow his instincts and do what is best for the people he is sworn to protect.
The film does only play lip service to the series of novels by Asimov, but it does tell a very good cautionary tale of human’s interaction and dependence upon technology without becoming preachy or losing site of the message that society must ensure to have a balance between humanity and technology in order to thrive.
If I had to find fault, it would be that many of the supporting roles were fairly bland, as Moynahan was not given much to do aside from play a Damsel in distress and the always solid James Cromwell and Bruce Greenwood were not used nearly enough. That being said “I Robot” delivers everything you want in a summer film and more.
Corey Richard Bennett (10 KP) rated Spider-Man: Far From Home (2019) in Movies
Jul 18, 2019 (Updated Jul 18, 2019)
Great follow-up to Avengers Endgame (2 more)
Extremely relatable teen angst and romance
Accurate potrayal of the Spider Man character
Contains spoilers, click to show
The last film in the 4th phase of Marvel's Cinematic Universe is a fitting bookend for the Universe so far, and where the Cinematic Universe is heading. After losing his mentor, Tony Stark, Spider-Man Peter Parker tries to resume a life of normality. With high hopes of romance with classmate MJ abroad in Europe, Peter is drawn into a ploy that is ultimately being triggered by fake interloper Mysterio AKA Quentin Beck. With use of virtual reality tech, and military grade drones, Beck tricks Nick Fury, and Peter into thinking beings known as Elementals are attacking Earth. Seemingly with all other Avengers busy or not home, Fury calls upon Tony Stark's chosen successor to help Mysterio in slaying the new beasts.
This is peak portrayal of the web-slinger as Tom Holland makes you really feel for his teenage character who is balancing a life of normality and a life with huge responsibility. Peter constantly thinks of his friends well-being and hiding his secret identity throughout Europe. Then there is the aspect of Peter's budding romance for MJ, played beautifully by Zendaya. This incarnation of MJ is quirky and awkward, which is not like any other portrayals I have seen before, but it matches with Holland's Parker, as he too is awkward as most teenagers trying to find themselves in life.
Now the bad guy. Mysterio is a long well known enemy in the Spider-Man lore, so the twist that he is Master of Illusion should not be a shock, but the trailers did a good job painting the possibility that we were seeing a new incarnation of the dome-headed man of mystery. The trailers also got fans excited, with the possibility of a multiverse being created by the snap of Thanos, now referred to as the Blip by the people of Earth. The multiverse could have been the way to shoe-horn the X-Men into the MCU, but alas it was all a ploy to get the ever powerful Stark Tech glasses (known as EDITH Even Dead I'm The Hero) away from Peter, as Tony had left them to him in his will. Tricking everyone including usually tactful Nick Fury, Mysterio gains Peter's trust, and then his glasses, as Peter thinks Beck is a more fitting replacement to Iron-Man than Peter himself, who wants to live a normal life for the time being. Mysterio almost gets away with his plan, but with one simple slip-up Peter realizes his gaff and pursues Beck to Berlin, which brings me to the best scene (In my humble Opinion).
Knowing Peter is on his way, Beck springs his own web of illusions around Peter which tricks Peter immensely, and dazzles the fan. Tricking Peter to the point that he learns who knows of his plan, dispatches Peter via a train, which Peter barely survives. Beck moves his plans to London where he tries to enact his greatest illusion but a rejuvenated Peter (with help from Happy Hogan) thwarts Beck's plan which ultimately leads to Beck's untimely demise. But with his plan burning around him, he uses his last minutes to frame Peter in his death, and reveal his identity to the world.
In the course of the movie, Peter and MJ finally reveal their feelings for one another, and become a couple before landing back in the USA, but with Peter's secret to the world (which MJ had figured out a while back) their relationship and Peter's safety hangs in the balance. Now the only question alot of people like myself are left wondering, what's next? What's next for the MCU? and Whats next for Spider-Man? Well for the MCU, Black-Widow's solo movie seems to be next in line with Guardians 3 in the Horizon. As for Spider-Man, Marvel and Sony's deal has one more movie left, so hopefully they make a longer agreement, as Tom Holland should being playing this role for a long time. The next film should be a fantastic spot to bring in Kraven the Hunter into the MCU, as Peter Parker is now enemy number 1 in New York and Kraven would be the best villian to set loose to hunt for Peter. Using MJ as bait or even Ned, the story rights itself, even possibly using the comic book story which Kraven buries Spider-Man. But I guess we need a few more years to find out what will happen to Peter, but this film is a great one in a line of great MCU entries.
P.S. Yeah that end-credit scene. Yup, we are getting Secret Wars storyline as the next big Avengers event.
This is peak portrayal of the web-slinger as Tom Holland makes you really feel for his teenage character who is balancing a life of normality and a life with huge responsibility. Peter constantly thinks of his friends well-being and hiding his secret identity throughout Europe. Then there is the aspect of Peter's budding romance for MJ, played beautifully by Zendaya. This incarnation of MJ is quirky and awkward, which is not like any other portrayals I have seen before, but it matches with Holland's Parker, as he too is awkward as most teenagers trying to find themselves in life.
Now the bad guy. Mysterio is a long well known enemy in the Spider-Man lore, so the twist that he is Master of Illusion should not be a shock, but the trailers did a good job painting the possibility that we were seeing a new incarnation of the dome-headed man of mystery. The trailers also got fans excited, with the possibility of a multiverse being created by the snap of Thanos, now referred to as the Blip by the people of Earth. The multiverse could have been the way to shoe-horn the X-Men into the MCU, but alas it was all a ploy to get the ever powerful Stark Tech glasses (known as EDITH Even Dead I'm The Hero) away from Peter, as Tony had left them to him in his will. Tricking everyone including usually tactful Nick Fury, Mysterio gains Peter's trust, and then his glasses, as Peter thinks Beck is a more fitting replacement to Iron-Man than Peter himself, who wants to live a normal life for the time being. Mysterio almost gets away with his plan, but with one simple slip-up Peter realizes his gaff and pursues Beck to Berlin, which brings me to the best scene (In my humble Opinion).
Knowing Peter is on his way, Beck springs his own web of illusions around Peter which tricks Peter immensely, and dazzles the fan. Tricking Peter to the point that he learns who knows of his plan, dispatches Peter via a train, which Peter barely survives. Beck moves his plans to London where he tries to enact his greatest illusion but a rejuvenated Peter (with help from Happy Hogan) thwarts Beck's plan which ultimately leads to Beck's untimely demise. But with his plan burning around him, he uses his last minutes to frame Peter in his death, and reveal his identity to the world.
In the course of the movie, Peter and MJ finally reveal their feelings for one another, and become a couple before landing back in the USA, but with Peter's secret to the world (which MJ had figured out a while back) their relationship and Peter's safety hangs in the balance. Now the only question alot of people like myself are left wondering, what's next? What's next for the MCU? and Whats next for Spider-Man? Well for the MCU, Black-Widow's solo movie seems to be next in line with Guardians 3 in the Horizon. As for Spider-Man, Marvel and Sony's deal has one more movie left, so hopefully they make a longer agreement, as Tom Holland should being playing this role for a long time. The next film should be a fantastic spot to bring in Kraven the Hunter into the MCU, as Peter Parker is now enemy number 1 in New York and Kraven would be the best villian to set loose to hunt for Peter. Using MJ as bait or even Ned, the story rights itself, even possibly using the comic book story which Kraven buries Spider-Man. But I guess we need a few more years to find out what will happen to Peter, but this film is a great one in a line of great MCU entries.
P.S. Yeah that end-credit scene. Yup, we are getting Secret Wars storyline as the next big Avengers event.